The report only focuses on rigid PCB. In 2012, global PCB industry saw a jump in terms of output value, benefitting in a large part from the rapid growth in the shipment of Apple and Samsung, up 7.0% over 2011 to USD62.4 billion. It was not always the truth for the full-blown PCB industry. However, there is no such possibility of huge jump in 2013, and the expected growth rate will slow down to 2.7%. For most rigid PCB vendors, it was doomed for them to face revenue dive in 2012 unless both Samsung and Apple were included in their client lists, while in 2013 their revenue is likely to drop even if Apple is among the clients.

The big acquisition event in 2012 was Viasystems takeover of America-based PCB producer DDI at a cost of USD267 million in June. In 2011, DDIs revenue reached USD263 million, and its net income hit USD25 million.

In 2012, two massive fire accidents took place in PCB industry. One happened in Apr. to the Changshu plant under Gold Circuit Electronics, the other was in Sep. with the sufferer coming to the Guangzhou plant under Viasystems. In Feb.2013, South Korean SIMMTECH was also on fire. PCB industry is vulnerable to fire accidents which break out twice annually at least. This leads to the natural reduction of capacity, balancing out the supply and demand.

In 2012, ZDT under Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd. performed better, due to sizeable orders from Apple, the largest client. As a result, the revenue of ZDT witnessed huge jump, especially its revenue from flexible PCB. Hannstar PCB, as the worlds largest notebook PCB vendor, saw a substantial surge in revenue following the fire accident inflicting Gold Circuit Electronics, its largest rival.

SEMCO saw big rise in orders thanks to its parent company Samsung which won considerable orders, and COMPEQ also did a good job due to the growing orders from the big client Apple. However, Nanya PCB dwarfed in this regard, since its failure to get orders from the big client Intel for one quarter long. And it was the same story for LG INNOTEK, the mobile phone shipment of whose big client LG presented a steep drop. As for counterparts in Mainland China, they leveled out in this regard.